An intricate haunted attraction, hosted at the home of North Pointe alumni Glen Williams each Halloween season, brings the community together with a festive spirit while also raising funds for Grosse Pointe schools. In order to ensure the beloved attraction is delivered each year, Williams and his crew began setting up to be ready for the haunted garage season 70 days prior.
After teaching physical education for over 30 years, Williams felt compelled to give back to the Grosse Pointe schools. He accomplished this by bringing his love for Halloween to life.
“I was able to witness how difficult it was for PTOs to raise funds,” Williams said. “And the different fundraisers that they actually had were good, but I just felt like, jeez, I think we can do something a little bit better. We raise between $35,000 to $40,000 a year. We may have even topped that this year.”
Raising money isn’t the only benefit the attraction has on the community. The haunted garage also brings community members together through job opportunities that arise with the major production. Freshman Cameron McEveney works at the garage and gets to experience the joy of Halloween.
“A few of my favorite things about working the haunted garage is seeing families come and scream and laugh together,” Mceveney said. “It’s also fun to get a good scare every now and then.”
Not just high school students are involved in the fun. Many families go to the garage as a fun activity for their children and family to spend time together, like English teacher Kristen Alles, who went with her family this year. She appreciates the impact of the fundraising and loves being able to go with her family.
“It raises money for our PTO’s, which I think is really really amazing, it’s such benevolent work,” Alles said. “I also think it gets kids together to do something out of school that is festive, low-stakes and scary but not too scary. You can go with your family, you can go with your friends. I just think it brings the community together for something that is fun and engaging. The volunteers engage the community too.”
The community fun and haunted garage wouldn’t be possible without the hard work and lengthy process of putting it all together. Although it isn’t easy work, the haunted garage crew still executes through the challenges. They change the attraction ideas and change aspects of it by at least 25% each season to ensure returning visitors are still entertained and surprised, according to Williams.
“It’s a lot of hard work, but the reward is accomplishment at the end of the day,” Williams said. “The ability to satisfy a passion for Halloween and for helping the community, I wouldn’t wanna be doing anything else right now. I love it.”
